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{{Short description|Period of Ottoman rule of Greece}} | |||
{{Infobox historical era | |||
| name = Ottoman rule in Greece<br>Τουρκοκρατία στην Ελλάδα{{br}} | |||
| location = ] | |||
| start = 1371 | |||
| end = 1812 | |||
| image = Erechtheum James Athenian Stuart.jpg | |||
| alt = | |||
| caption = View of the Caryatid Porch, the ], the west end of the Temple of Minerva Polias, and the Pandrosium on the ] in Ottoman Athens in 1750s | |||
| before = ]<br>] | |||
| including = {{plainlist| | |||
*] (], ], ], ], ]) | |||
*] (], ], ]) | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
}} | |||
| after = ] | |||
| monarch = ] | |||
| key_events = | |||
}} | |||
{{History of Greece}} | {{History of Greece}} | ||
The vast majority of the territory of present-day ] was at some point incorporated within the ]. The period of '''Ottoman rule in Greece''', lasting from the mid-15th century until the successful ] broke out in 1821 and the ] was proclaimed in 1822, is known in Greece as '''Turkocracy''' ({{langx|el|Τουρκοκρατία}}, {{transl|en|Tourkokratia}}, "Turkish rule").<ref></ref> Some regions, like the ] and various temporary ] possessions of the ], were not incorporated in the Ottoman Empire. The ] in the ] was not fully integrated into the Ottoman Empire, but was under Ottoman ]. | |||
The ], which ruled most of the Greek-speaking world for over 1100 years, had been fatally weakened since the ] of 1204. Having defeated the ], the Ottomans ] in 1453 and soon advanced southwards capturing ] in 1456 and the ] in 1460. By the early 16th century, all of mainland Greece and most of the Aegean Islands were in Ottoman hands, excluding several port cities that were still held by the ] (notably ], ], ] and ]). The mountains of Greece remained largely untouched and were a refuge for Greeks who desired to flee Ottoman rule and engage in ].<ref>{{cite book |title= World and Its Peoples |url=https://archive.org/details/worlditspeoplese0010unse|url-access=registration|publisher= Marshall Cavendish |year= 2009 |page=1478 |isbn= 978-0-7614-7902-4 |quote=The klephts were descendants of Greeks who fled into the mountains to avoid the Turks in the fifteenth century and who remained active as brigands into the nineteenth century.}}</ref> The ] islands were annexed by the Ottomans in 1579, although they had been under vassal status since the 1530s. ] ], and the Venetians retained ] ]. The ] were never ruled by the Ottomans, with the exception of ] (from 1479 to 1481 and from 1485 to 1500), but remained under the rule of the Venice. It was in the Ionian Islands that modern Greek statehood was born, with the creation of the ] in 1800. | |||
The ], the successor to the ancient ] who ruled most of the Greek-speaking world for over 1100 years, had been fatally weakened since the ] by the ] in 1204. | |||
Ottoman Greece was a ], although the Ottoman system of '']'' did not correspond to the contemporary notion of ].<ref></ref> The Greeks were given some privileges and freedom, but they also suffered from the malpractices of its administrative personnel over which the central government had only remote and incomplete control.<ref>]<span>, The Greek Struggle for Independence, 1821-1833. University of California Press, p. 16.</span></ref> Despite losing their political independence, the Greeks remained dominant in the fields of commerce and business. The consolidation of Ottoman power in the 15th and the 16th centuries rendered the Mediterranean safe for Greek shipping, and Greek shipowners became the empire's maritime carriers and made tremendous profits.<ref name="princeton9187">http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i9187.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> After the Ottoman defeat at the ], however, Greek ships often became the target of attacks by ] (especially ] and ]) pirates.<ref name="princeton9187" /> | |||
The Ottoman advance into Greece was preceded by victory over the ]s to its north. First the Ottomans won the ] in 1371. The Serb forces were then led by the King ], the father of ] and the co-ruler of the last emperor from the Serbian ] dynasty. This was followed by another Ottoman victory in the 1389 ]. | |||
The five century period of Ottoman rule had a profound impact in Greek society, as new elites emerged. The Greek land-owning aristocracy that traditionally dominated the ] suffered a tragic fate and was almost completely destroyed. The new leading class in Ottoman Greece were the ''prokritoi'',<ref>Clogg, 2002 {{Page needed|date=July 2011}}</ref> which were called '']s'' by the Ottomans. They were essentially bureaucrats and tax collectors and gained a negative reputation for corruption and nepotism. On the other hand, the ] became prominent in the imperial capital of Constantinople as businessmen and diplomats, and the ] and the ] rose to great power under the Sultan's protection and gained religious control over the entire Orthodox population of the empire, whether it spoke Greek, Albanian, Latin or Slavic. | |||
With no further threat by the Serbs and the subsequent Byzantine civil wars, the Ottomans ] in 1453 and advanced southwards into Greece, capturing ] in 1458. The Greeks held out in the ] until 1460, and the ] and ] clung to some of the islands, but by 1500 most of the plains and islands of Greece were in Ottoman hands. The mountains of Greece were largely untouched, and were a refuge for Greeks to flee foreign rule and engage in guerrilla warfare.<ref>{{cite book |author= |title= World and Its Peoples |publisher= Marshall Cavendish |year= 2009 |page=1478 |isbn= 0-7614-7902-3 |quote= The klephts were descendants of Greeks who fled into the mountains to avoid the Turks in the fifteenth century and who remained active as brigands into the nineteenth century. }}</ref> | |||
==Ottoman expansion== | |||
] fell in 1571, and the Venetians retained ] until 1669. The ] were only briefly ruled by the Ottomans (] from 1479 to 1481 and from 1485 to 1500), and remained primarily under the rule of the ]. | |||
After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, the ] was the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire to hold out against the Ottomans. However, it ] in 1460, completing the conquest of mainland Greece.<ref name="EB5">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244154/Greece/26391/Thessaly-and-surrounding-regions|title=Greece During the Byzantine Period: The Peloponnese advances|publisher=Online Encyclopaedia Britannica|encyclopedia=britannica.com|access-date=28 April 2012}}</ref> | |||
Ottoman Greece was a ] and ] society; apart from Greeks and Turks, there were many ], ] (especially ]), ], and various Balkan peoples (], ], ], ] etc.).<ref>Mark Mazower, Salonica, city of ghosts: | |||
Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 1430-1950.</ref> All these communities lived generally in harmony, but not without occasional conflicts.<ref>], Ο ΑΓΩΝΑΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΣΙΑ 1821-1833, pages 55-67</ref> Despite losing their political independence, the Greeks remained dominant in the fields of commerce and business. The consolidation of Ottoman power in the 15th and 16th centuries rendered the Mediterranean safe for Greek shipping, and Greek shipowners became the maritime carriers of the Empire, making tremendous profits.<ref name="princeton9187">http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i9187.pdf</ref> After the Ottoman defeat at the ] however, Greek ships often became the target of vicious attacks by Catholic (especially Spanish and Maltese) pirates.<ref name="princeton9187"/> | |||
While most of mainland Greece and the Aegean islands was under Ottoman control by the end of the 15th century, ] and ] remained ] territory and did not fall to the Ottomans until 1571 and 1670. The only part of the Greek-speaking world that was never under Ottoman rule is the ], which remained Venetian until 1797. ] withstood three major sieges in ], 1571 and ] all of which resulted in the repulsion of the Ottomans. | |||
This period of Ottoman occupation had a profound impact in Greek society, as new elites emerged. The Greek land-owning aristocracy that traditionally dominated the ] suffered a tragic fate, and was almost completely destroyed. The new leading class in occupied Greece were the ''prokritoi''<ref>Clogg, 2002 {{Page needed|date=July 2011}}</ref> (πρόκριτοι in Greek) called '']s'' by the Ottomans. The prokritoi were essentially bureaucrats and tax collectors, and gained a negative reputation for corruption and nepotism. On the other hand, the ] became prominent in the imperial capital of Constantinople as businessmen and diplomats, and the Greek Orthodox Church and the ] rose to great power under the Sultan's protection, gaining religious control over the entire Orthodox population of the Empire, Greek and Slavic. | |||
Other areas that remained part of the Venetian ] include ] and ] until 1540, the ], centered on the islands of ] and ] until 1579, ] until 1617 and ] until 1715. | |||
<gallery class="center"> | |||
File:Zonaro GatesofConst.jpg|Sultan Mehmed II's entry into Constantinople | |||
File:OttomanJanissariesAndDefendingKnightsOfStJohnSiegeOfRhodes1522.jpg|Ottoman ] and defending ] at the ] | |||
File:Battle of Preveza (1538).jpg|The "]" (1538) by Ohannes Umed Behzad | |||
File:Battle of Lepanto 1571.jpg|The "]" (1571) prevented the Ottomans from expanding further | |||
File:Vue du siege de Candie en 1669.jpg|] (1648-1669) | |||
</gallery> | |||
==Ottoman rule== | ==Ottoman rule== | ||
] |
] from 1307 to 1683.]] | ||
The consolidation of Ottoman rule was followed by two distinct trends of Greek migration. The first entailed Greek intellectuals, such as ], ] and ], migrating to other parts of Western Europe and influencing the advent of the ] (though the large scale migration of Greeks to other parts of Europe, most notably Italian university cities, began far earlier, following the Crusader capture of Constantinople<ref>Treadgold, Warren. ''History of Byzantine State and Society''. Stanford University Press, 1997. {{Page needed|date=July 2011}}</ref>). This trend had also effect on the creation of the modern ]. | The consolidation of Ottoman rule was followed by two distinct trends of Greek migration. The first entailed Greek intellectuals, such as ], ] and ], migrating to other parts of Western Europe and influencing the advent of the ] (though the large scale migration of Greeks to other parts of Europe, most notably Italian university cities, began far earlier, following the Crusader capture of Constantinople<ref>Treadgold, Warren. ''History of Byzantine State and Society''. Stanford University Press, 1997. {{Page needed|date=July 2011}}</ref>). This trend had also effect on the creation of the modern ]. | ||
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===Administration=== | ===Administration=== | ||
{{see also|Phanariotes|Kodjabashis}} | |||
The Sultan sat at the apex of the government of the Ottoman Empire. Although he had the trappings of an absolute ruler, he was actually bound by tradition and convention.<ref name="Woodhouse100">{{cite book|last=Woodhouse|first=C. M.|title=Modern Greece: A Short History|year=1998|publisher=Faber & Faber Pub|location=London|isbn=978-0571197941|page=100}}</ref> These restrictions imposed by tradition were mainly of a religious nature. Indeed, the Koran was the main restriction on absolute rule by the sultan and in this way, the Koran served as a "constitution."<ref name="Woodhouse100"/> | |||
]" in 1801. Almost all the Balkan peninsula was called "land of the Romans" by the Ottomans]] | |||
Ottoman rule of the provinces was characterized by two main functions. The local administrators within the provinces were to maintain a military establishment and to collect taxes.<ref name="Woodhouse101">C. M. Woodhouse, ''Modern Greece: A Short History'', p. 101.</ref> The military establishment was feudal in character.<ref name="Woodhouse101"/> The Sultan's cavalry |
The Sultan sat at the apex of the government of the Ottoman Empire. Although he had the trappings of an absolute ruler, he was actually bound by tradition and convention.<ref name="Woodhouse100">{{cite book|last=Woodhouse|first=C. M.|title=Modern Greece: A Short History|year=1998|publisher=Faber & Faber Pub|location=London|isbn=978-0571197941|page=|url=https://archive.org/details/moderngreece00cmwo/page/100}}</ref> Ottoman rule of the provinces was characterized by two main functions. The local administrators within the provinces were to maintain a military establishment and to collect taxes.<ref name="Woodhouse101">C. M. Woodhouse, ''Modern Greece: A Short History'', p. 101.</ref> The military establishment was feudal in character.<ref name="Woodhouse101" /> The Sultan's cavalry were allotted land, either large allotments or small allotments based on the rank of the individual cavalryman. All non-Muslims were forbidden to ride a horse which made traveling more difficult.<ref name="Woodhouse101" /> The Ottomans divided Greece into six '']s'', each ruled by a ''Sanjakbey'' accountable to the ], who established his capital in ] in 1453. | ||
]", ].]] | ]", ], 1821.]] | ||
] quarter, the historical centre of the ] of ] in ], ca. 20th century. The domed red building on the horizon is the ], which is a landmark of today's ] quarter.]] | |||
The conquered land was parceled out to Ottoman nobles, who held it as feudal fiefs (''timars'' and ''ziamets'') directly under the Sultan's authority. This land could not be sold or inherited, but reverted to the Sultan's possession when the fief-holder died.<ref name="Woodhouse101"/> During their life-times, these Ottoman nobles, who were generally cavalrymen in the Sultan's cavalry, lived well on the proceeds of their estates with the land of the estate being tilled largely by peasants.<ref name="Woodhouse101"/> | |||
The conquered land was parceled out to Ottoman warriors, who held it as feudal fiefs (''timars'' and ''ziamets'') directly under the Sultan's authority. This land could not be sold or inherited, but reverted to the Sultan's possession when the fief-holder (]) died.<ref name="Woodhouse101"/> During their life-times they served as cavalrymen in the Sultan's army, living well on the proceeds of their estates with the land being tilled largely by peasants.<ref name="Woodhouse101"/> Many Ottoman timariots were descended from the pre-Ottoman Christian nobility, and shifted their allegiance to the Ottomans following the conquest of the Balkans. Conversion to Islam was not a requirement, and as late as the fifteenth century many timariots were known to be Christian, although their numbers gradually decreased over time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lowry |first=Heath |title=The Nature of the Early Ottoman State |publisher=SUNY Press |place=Albany |date=2003 |isbn=0-7914-5636-6 |pages=90–2}}</ref> | |||
The Ottomans basically installed this feudal system right over the top of the existing system of peasant tenure. The peasantry remained in possession of their own land and their tenure over their plot of land remained hereditary and inalienable.<ref name="Woodhouse101"/> Nor was any military service ever imposed on the peasant by the Ottoman government. All non-Muslims were in theory forbidden from carrying arms, but this was ignored. Indeed, in regions such as Crete, almost every man carried arms. | The Ottomans basically installed this feudal system right over the top of the existing system of peasant tenure. The peasantry remained in possession of their own land and their tenure over their plot of land remained hereditary and inalienable.<ref name="Woodhouse101"/> Nor was any military service ever imposed on the peasant by the Ottoman government. All non-Muslims were in theory forbidden from carrying arms, but this was ignored. Indeed, in regions such as Crete, almost every man carried arms. | ||
Greek Christian families were, however, subject to a system of child conscription known as the ]. The Ottomans required that selected male children from Christian peasant villages be conscripted and enrolled in the corps of ] for military training in the Sultan's army.<ref name="Woodhouse101"/> Others were trained as the intelligentsia and imperial administrators. Such recruitment was sporadic, and the proportion of children conscripted varied from region to region. The practice largely came to an end by the middle of the seventeenth century. | |||
The Greek people were, however, heavily taxed by the Ottoman Empire and this tax included a "tribute of children." The Ottomans required that one male child in five within every Christian family be taken away from the family and enrolled in the corps of ] for military training in the Sultan's army.<ref name="Woodhouse101"/> There were many repressive laws, and occasionally the Ottoman government committed massacres against the civilian population.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mazower|first=Mark|title=Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950|year=2006|publisher=Vintage|isbn=978-0375727382|page=126}}</ref><ref>Bat Ye'or ''The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam'', (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1985)</ref><ref>C. E. Bosworth ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', Vol. 3, No. 2 (Cambridge University Press, Apr 1972), p. 199-216</ref><ref>"The Greeks in the city rang their church bells, rode through the streets on horseback, wore fine clothes and did not step down from the pavement when they passed a Muslim. To us this indicates the extent of non-Muslim influence there; to Haïroullah it was shockingly bold behaviour which would not have been tolerated in Istanbul; prohibited by imperial decree, it was explicable only in terms of the corruption of local police officials... Haïroullah clearly saw storm clouds ahead. After consulting the Qur’an, he met with the Greek archbishop and advised him to keep his flock in check, 'to be more faithful to the laws of the shari’a and to obey the orders of the governor.'... 'And from that night began the evil. Salonica, that beautiful city, which shines like an emerald in Your honoured crown, was turned into a boundless slaughter-house.' Yusuf Bey ordered his men to kill any Christians they found in the streets and for days and nights the air was filled with 'shouts, wails, screams.' " </ref> No Greek's word could stand against a Turk's in a law court.<ref name="Waterfield, Robert 2005 p. 284">{{cite book|last=Waterfield|first=Robert |title=Athens: A History, From Ancient Ideal To Modern City|year=2005|publisher=Basic Books|page=285|isbn= 0-465-09063-X}}</ref> | |||
===Economy=== | |||
] | |||
] (16th century) by ]]] | |||
The economic situation of the majority of Greece deteriorated heavily during the Ottoman era of the country. Life became ruralized and militarized. Heavy burdens of taxation were placed on the Christian population, and many Greeks were reduced to ] whereas during prior eras the region had been heavily developed and urbanized. The exception to this rule was in Constantinople and the ]-held Ionian islands, where many Greeks lived in prosperity.<ref>, ''Eleuthería ē Thánatos!'': The idea of freedom in modern Greek poetry during the war of independence in 19th century. Dionysios Solomos’ “Hymn to Liberty”</ref> Greeks heavily resented the declining economic situation in their country during the Ottoman era.<ref>Paroulakis, pp. 10-11.</ref> | |||
Under the Ottoman system of government, Greek society was at the same time fostered and restricted. With one hand the Ottoman regime gave privileges and freedom to its subject people; with the other it imposed a tyranny deriving from the malpractices of its administrative personnel over which it exercised only remote and incomplete control. In fact the "rayahs" were commoners. The term rayah came to denote an underprivileged, tax-ridden and socially inferior population.<ref></ref> | |||
After about 1600, the Ottomans resorted to military rule in parts of Greece, which provoked further resistance, and also led to economic dislocation and accelerated population decline. Ottoman landholdings, previously fiefs held directly from the Sultan, became hereditary estates (''chifliks''), which could be sold or bequeathed to heirs. The new class of Ottoman landlords reduced the hitherto free Greek farmers to serfdom, leading to depopulation of the plains, and to the flight of many people to the mountains, in order to escape poverty. | |||
===Religion=== | ===Religion=== | ||
{{main|Rum Millet|Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople}} | |||
The Sultan regarded the ] of the ] as the leader of all Orthodox, Greeks or not, within the empire. The Patriarch was accountable to the Sultan for the good behavior of the Orthodox population, and in exchange he was given wide powers over the Orthodox communities, including the non-Greek Slavic peoples. The Patriarch controlled the courts and the schools, as well as the Church, throughout the Greek communities of the empire. This made Orthodox priests, together with the local magnates, called Prokritoi or Dimogerontes, the effective rulers of Greek towns and cities. Some Greek towns, such as Athens and ], retained municipal self-government, while others were put under Ottoman governors. Several areas, such as the ] in the Peloponnese, and parts of ] (Sfakia) and ], remained virtually independent. During the frequent ], the Greeks sided with the Venetians against the Ottomans, with a few exceptions.<ref>For example, during the ] in 1715, local Greeks supplied the Ottomans and refused to join the Venetian army due to feared future reprisals by the Ottomans. (Stavrianos, L.S. ''The Balkans since 1453'', p. 181).</ref> The Orthodox Church assisted greatly in the preservation of the Greek heritage, and during the 19th century, adherence to the Greek Orthodox faith became increasingly a mark of Greek nationality. | |||
The Sultan regarded the ] of the ] as the leader of all Orthodox, Greeks or not, within the empire. The Patriarch was accountable to the Sultan for the good behavior of the Orthodox population, and in exchange he was given wide powers over the Orthodox communities, including the non-Greek Slavic peoples. The Patriarch controlled the courts and the schools, as well as the Church, throughout the Greek communities of the empire. This made Orthodox priests, together with the local magnates, called Prokritoi or Dimogerontes, the effective rulers of Greek towns and cities. Some Greek towns, such as Athens and ], retained municipal self-government, while others were put under Ottoman governors. Several areas, such as the ] in the Peloponnese, and parts of ] (Sfakia) and ], remained virtually independent. | |||
].]] | |||
The Patriarchate of Constantinople in general remained loyal to the Ottomans against the western threats (as for example during the ] revolt, etc.) The Orthodox Church assisted greatly in the preservation of the Greek heritage, and adherence to the Greek Orthodox faith became increasingly a mark of Greek nationality. | |||
As a rule, the Ottomans did not require the Greeks to become ]s, although many did so on a superficial level in order to avert the socioeconomic hardships of Ottoman rule<ref></ref> or because of the alleged corruption of the Greek clergy.<ref>The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 143</ref> The regions of Greece which had the largest concentrations of Ottoman ] were ], notably the ], neighboring ], and Crete (see ]). Under the millet logic, ], despite often retaining elements of their Greek culture and language, were classified simply as "Muslim", although most ] Christians deemed them to have "turned-Turk" and therefore saw them as traitors to their original ethno-religious communities.<ref name="Walker Arnold">The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 137-138</ref> | |||
].]] | |||
As a rule, the Ottomans did not require the Greeks to become ]s, although many did so on a superficial level in order to avert the socioeconomic hardships of Ottoman rule<ref></ref> or because of the alleged corruption of the Greek clergy.<ref>The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 143</ref> The regions of Greece which had the largest concentrations of Ottoman ] were ], notably the ], neighboring ], and Crete (see ]). Under the millet logic, ], despite often retaining elements of their Greek culture and language, were classified simply as "Muslim", although most ] Christians deemed them to have "turned-Turk" and therefore saw them as traitors to their original ethno-religious communities.<ref name="Walker Arnold">The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 137-138</ref> | |||
Some Greeks either became ]s, such as Saint Efraim the Neo-Martyr or Saint Demetrios the Neo-martyr while others became ] (Greek Muslims who were secret practitioners of the Greek Orthodox faith) in order to avoid heavy taxes and at the same time express their identity by maintaining their secret ties to the Greek Orthodox Church. Crypto-Christians officially ran the risk of being killed if they were caught practicing a non-Muslim religion once they converted to Islam. There were also instances of Greeks from theocratic or Byzantine nobility embracing Islam such as ] and ].<ref name="Walker Arnold"/> | Some Greeks either became ]s, such as Saint Efraim the Neo-Martyr or Saint Demetrios the Neo-martyr while others became ] (Greek Muslims who were secret practitioners of the Greek Orthodox faith) in order to avoid heavy taxes and at the same time express their identity by maintaining their secret ties to the Greek Orthodox Church. Crypto-Christians officially ran the risk of being killed if they were caught practicing a non-Muslim religion once they converted to Islam. There were also instances of Greeks from theocratic or Byzantine nobility embracing Islam such as ] and ].<ref name="Walker Arnold"/> | ||
Treatment of Christian subjects varied greatly under the rule of the Ottoman Sultans. ], according to a Byzantine historian, freely admitted Christians into his society while trying to grow his empire, in the early Ottoman period. Later, although the Turkish ruler attempted to pacify the local population with a restoration of peacetime rule of law, the Christian population also became subject to special taxes and the tribute of Christian children to the Ottoman state to feed the ranks of the ] corps.<ref>The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir ], pg. 128</ref> Violent persecutions of Christians did nevertheless take place under the reign of ] (1512-1520), known as Selim the Grim, who attempted to stamp out Christianity from the Ottoman Empire. Selim ordered the confiscation of all Christian churches, and while this order was later rescinded, Christians were heavily persecuted during his era.<ref>Paroulakis, p. 11.</ref> | |||
===Taxation and the "tribute of children"=== | ===Taxation and the "tribute of children"=== | ||
{{see also|Greek Muslims}} | |||
] (], oil on canvas, 1825).]] | |||
] portrayed by ] (oil on canvas, 1825)]] | |||
Greeks paid a land tax and a heavy tax on trade, the latter taking advantage of the wealthy Greeks to fill the state coffers.<ref>Douglas Dakin,the Greek struggle for independence, 1972</ref> Greeks, like other Christians, were also made to pay the '']'', or Islamic poll-tax which all non-Muslims in the empire were forced to pay instead of the ] that Muslims must pay as part of the 5 pillars of Islam. Failure to pay the jizya could result in the pledge of protection of the Christian's life and property becoming void, facing the alternatives of conversion, enslavement, or death.<ref>James E. Lindsay ''Daily life in the medieval Islamic world'', (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005) p.121</ref> | |||
Like in the rest of the Ottoman Empire, Greeks had to carry a receipt certifying their payment of jizya at all times or be subject to imprisonment. Most Greeks did not have to serve in the Sultan's army, but the young boys that were taken away and converted to Islam were made to serve in the Ottoman military. In addition, girls were taken in order to serve as ]s in harems.<ref name="Waterfield, Robert 2005 p. 284">{{cite book|last=Waterfield|first=Robert|title=Athens: A History, From Ancient Ideal To Modern City|year=2005|publisher=Basic Books|page=|isbn=0-465-09063-X|url=https://archive.org/details/athenshistoryfro00wate/page/285}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Madeline C.|last=Zilfi|title=Women and slavery in the late Ottoman Empire|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2010|isbn=9780521515832}}</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2016}} | |||
Greeks paid a land tax and a heavy tax on trade, the latter taking advantage of the wealthy Greeks to fill the state coffers.<ref>Douglas Dakin,the Greek struggle for independence, 1972</ref> Greeks, like other Christians, were also made to pay the '']'', or Islamic poll-tax which all non-Muslims in the empire were forced to pay instead of the ] that Muslims must pay as part of the 5 pillars of Islam. Failure to pay the jizya could result in the pledge of protection of the Christian's life and property becoming void, facing the alternatives of conversion; enslavement or death.<ref>James E. Lindsay ''Daily life in the medieval Islamic world'', (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005) p.121</ref> | |||
These practices are called the "tribute of children" ('']'') (in Greek ''παιδομάζωμα'' ''paidomazoma'', meaning "child gathering"), whereby every Christian community was required to give one son in five to be raised as a Muslim and enrolled in the corps of ], elite units of the Ottoman army. There was much resistance to this. For example, Greek folklore tells of mothers crippling their sons to avoid their abduction. Nevertheless, entrance into the corps (accompanied by conversion to Islam) offered Greek boys the opportunity to advance as high as governor or even ]. | |||
Like in the rest of the Ottoman empire, Greeks had to carry a receipt certifying their payment of jizya at all times or be subject to imprisonment. Most Greeks did not have to serve in the Sultan's army, but the young boys that were taken away and converted to Islam were made to serve in the Ottoman military. In addition, girls were taken in order to serve as ]s in harems.<ref name="Waterfield, Robert 2005 p. 284"/><ref>Madeline C. Zilfi ''Women and slavery in the late Ottoman Empire'' Cambridge University Press, 2010</ref> | |||
These practices are called the "tribute of children" ('']'') (in Greek ''παιδομάζωμα'' ''paidomazoma'', meaning "child gathering"), whereby every Christian community was required to give one son in five to be raised as a Muslim and enrolled in the corps of ], elite units of the Ottoman army. There was much resistance, for example, Greek folklore tells of mothers crippling their sons to avoid their abduction. Nevertheless, entrance into the corps (accompanied by conversion to Islam) offered Greek boys the opportunity to advance as high as governor or even ]. One prominent example is ], who was born the son of a Greek fisherman from and became one of the most trusted advisors of ] and field general and statesman with his own palace. Recruits were in a some cases gained through voluntarily accessions, as some parents were often eager to have their children enroll in the Janissary service that ensured them a successful career and comfort.<ref>The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 130</ref> | |||
Opposition of the Greek populace to taxing or ''paidomazoma'' resulted in grave consequences. For example, in 1705 an Ottoman official was sent from ] in ] to search and conscript new Janissaries and was killed by Greek rebels who resisted the burden of the ]. The rebels were subsequently beheaded and their severed heads were displayed in the city of ].<ref>Vasdravellis, I. ''Οι Μακεδόνες κατά την Επανάστασιν του 1821'' (The Macedonians during the Revolution of 1821), 3rd improved edition, Thessaloniki: Society of Macedonian Studies, 1967. {{Page needed|date=July 2011}}</ref> In some cases, it was greatly feared as Greek families would often have to relinquish their own sons who would convert and return later as their oppressors. In other cases, the families bribed the officers to ensure that their children got a better life as a government officer.<ref>Shaw, p. 114.</ref> | Opposition of the Greek populace to taxing or ''paidomazoma'' resulted in grave consequences. For example, in 1705 an Ottoman official was sent from ] in ] to search and conscript new Janissaries and was killed by Greek rebels who resisted the burden of the ]. The rebels were subsequently beheaded and their severed heads were displayed in the city of ].<ref>Vasdravellis, I. ''Οι Μακεδόνες κατά την Επανάστασιν του 1821'' (The Macedonians during the Revolution of 1821), 3rd improved edition, Thessaloniki: Society of Macedonian Studies, 1967. {{Page needed|date=July 2011}}</ref> In some cases, it was greatly feared as Greek families would often have to relinquish their own sons who would convert and return later as their oppressors. In other cases, the families bribed the officers to ensure that their children got a better life as a government officer.<ref>Shaw, p. 114.</ref> | ||
=== |
===Influence on tradition=== | ||
{{see also|Greek folk music|Rebetiko}} | |||
The incorporation of Greece into the Ottoman Empire had other long-term consequences. Economic activity declined to a great extent (mainly because trade flowed towards cities like ], ], and ]), and the population declined, at least in the lowland areas (Ottoman censuses did not include many people in mountainous areas). Turkish settled extensively in ] and ], while there were population of ] of Christian Orthodox convert origin in especially southwestern Macedonia, such as the ]. After their expulsion from Spain in 1492, ] ]s settled in ] (known in this period as ''Salonica'' or ''Selanik''), which became the main Jewish centre of the empire. The Greeks became more inward-looking, with each region cut off from the others — only Muslims could in theory ride a horse, which made travel more difficult.<ref>The provisions of the Pact of Umar are cited as translated in Stillman (1979), pp. 157–158</ref> Greek culture and education declined significantly (with the exception of the Orthodox Church). | |||
After the 16th century, many Greek folk songs (''dimotika'') were produced and inspired from the way of life of the Greek people, brigands and the armed conflicts during the centuries of Ottoman rule. Klephtic songs (Greek: Κλέφτικα τραγούδια), or ballads, are a subgenre of the Greek folk music genre and are thematically oriented on the life of the klephts.<ref>{{Cite book |title = Mittheilungen aus der Geschichte und Dichtung der Neu-Griechen. Zweiter Band| publisher = Jacob Hölscher | location = Coblenz |year = 1825 |url = https://archive.org/details/mittheilungenau00dergoog}}</ref> Prominent conflicts were immortalised in several folk tales and songs, such as the epic ballad ''To tragoudi tou Daskalogianni'' of 1786, about the resistance warfare under ].<ref>Roderick Beaton 248 pages Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 20, 2004) {{ISBN|0-521-60420-6}} {{ISBN|978-0521604208}}</ref> | |||
==Emergence of Greek nationalism== | |||
===Influence to tradition=== | |||
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2016}} | |||
{{see also|Greek folk music|Rebetiko|Klephts|Armatoloi}} | |||
{{See also|Modern Greek Enlightenment}} | |||
] (oil painting, 1825–1826, Benaki Museum).]] | |||
After the 16th century, many Greek folk songs (''dimotika'') were produced and inspired from the way of life of the Greek people, brigands and the armed conflicts during the centuries of the Ottoman occupation. Klephtic songs (Greek: Κλέφτικα τραγούδια), or ballads, are a sub-genre of the Greek folk music genre and are thematically oriented on the life of the klephts.<ref>{{Cite book| editor = | title = Mittheilungen aus der Geschichte und Dichtung der Neu-Griechen. Zweiter Band| publisher = Jacob Hölscher| location = Coblenz| year = 1825| pages = | language = | origyear = | url = http://www.archive.org/details/mittheilungenau00dergoog}}</ref> Prominent conflicts were immortalised in several folk tales and songs, such as the epic ballad ''To tragoudi tou Daskalogianni'' of 1786, about the resistance warfare under ].<ref>Roderick Beaton 248 pages Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 20, 2004) ISBN 0-521-60420-6 ISBN 978-0521604208</ref> | |||
] (c. 1595 – 1673) was a ] scholar born in Athens,<ref>{{cite book |author= Hutton, James |title= The Greek anthology in France and in the Latin writers of the Netherlands to the year 1800 Volume 28 |publisher= Cornell University Press |year= 1946 |page=188 |oclc=3305912 |quote= LEONARD PHILARAS or VILLERET (c. 1595–1673) Philaras was born in Athens of good family and spent his childhood there. His youth was passed in Rome, where he was educated, and his manhood }}</ref> and an early supporter of Greek liberation from Ottoman rule, spending much of his career in persuading Western European intellectuals to support Greek Independence.<ref>{{cite book |author= Merry, Bruce |title= Encyclopedia of modern Greek literature |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |year= 2004 |page=442 |isbn= 0-313-30813-6 |quote= Leonardos Filaras (1595–1673) devoted much of his career to coaxing Western European intellectuals to support Greek liberation. Two letters from Milton (1608–1674) attest Filaras’s patriotic crusade. }}</ref>]] | |||
==Ottoman decline== | |||
], intellectual and forerunner of the Greek War of Independence]] | |||
] (c. 1595 – 1673) was a ] scholar born in Athens,<ref>{{cite book |author= Hutton, James |title= The Greek anthology in France and in the Latin writers of the Netherlands to the year 1800 Volume 28 |publisher= Cornell University Press |year= 1946 |page=188 |oclc=3305912 |quote= LEONARD PHILARAS or VILLERET (c. 1595-1673) Philaras was born in Athens of good family and spent his childhood there. His youth was passed in Rome, where he was educated, and his manhood }}</ref> and an early supporter of Greek liberation from Ottoman rule, spending much of his career in persuading Western European intellectuals to support Greek Independence.<ref>{{cite book |author= Merry, Bruce |title= Encyclopedia of modern Greek literature |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |year= 2004 |page=442 |isbn= 0-313-30813-6 |quote= Leonardos Filaras (1595-1673) devoted much of his career to coaxing Western European intellectuals to support Greek liberation. Two letters from Milton (1608-1674) attest Filaras’s patriotic crusade. }}</ref>]] | |||
Over the course of the eighteenth century Ottoman landholdings, previously fiefs held directly from the Sultan, became hereditary estates ('']s''), which could be sold or bequeathed to heirs. The new class of Ottoman landlords reduced the hitherto free Greek peasants to ], leading to further poverty and depopulation in the plains.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} | |||
After the unsuccessful Ottoman ], in 1683, the Ottoman Empire entered a long decline both militarily against the Christian powers and internally, leading to an increase in corruption, repression and inefficiency. This provoked discontent which led to disorders and occasionally rebellions. As more areas drifted out of Ottoman control, the Ottomans resorted to military rule in parts of Greece. This only provoked further resistance. Moreover, it led to economic dislocation, as well as accelerated population decline.<ref name="Waterfield">Waterfield, Robert ''Athens: A History, From Ancient Ideal To Modern City'', Basic Books (2005), pp281-293</ref> | |||
On the other hand, the position of educated and privileged Greeks within the Ottoman Empire improved greatly in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref>Eric Hobsbawm, ], Part 1, Chapter 7, II, pp. 140–142.</ref> From the late 1600s Greeks began to fill some of the highest and most important offices of the Ottoman state. The ], a class of wealthy Greeks who lived in the ] of Constantinople, became increasingly powerful. Their travels to Western Europe as merchants or diplomats brought them into contact with advanced ideas of ] and ], and it was among the Phanariotes that the modern Greek nationalist movement was born. Many Greek merchants and travelers were influenced by the ideas of the ] and a new Age of ] was initiated at the beginning of the 19th century in many Ottoman-ruled Greek cities and towns.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} | |||
Another sign of decline was that Ottoman landholdings, previously fiefs held directly from the Sultan, became hereditary estates ('']s''), which could be sold or bequeathed to heirs. The new class of Ottoman landlords reduced the hitherto free Greek peasants to ], leading to further poverty and depopulation in the plains. Athens was on its most part a run-down village, its peasant Greek population extremely poor and isolated, not allowed near the ] where the more wealthy Turks were settled.<ref name="Waterfield"/> | |||
Greek nationalism was also stimulated by agents of ], the Orthodox ruler of the ], who hoped to acquire Ottoman territory, including Constantinople itself, by inciting a Christian rebellion against the Ottomans. However, during the ] which broke out in 1768, the Greeks did not rebel, disillusioning their Russian patrons. The ] (1774) gave Russia the right to make "representations" to the Sultan in defense of his Orthodox subjects, and the Russians began to interfere regularly in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire. This, combined with the new ideas let loose by the ] of 1789, began to reconnect the Greeks with the outside world and led to the development of an active nationalist movement, one of the most progressive of the time. | |||
The French ] and ] ] after his visit in ] in 1806, wrote his impressions: «Around me there were graves, silence, disaster, death and some Greek sailors sleeping without cares on the ruins of Greece. I abandoned that divine place forever, my head filled with its greatness in the past and its downfall today». | |||
However, the overall Greek population in the plains was reinforced by the return of some Greeks from the mountains during the 17th century. | |||
Greece was peripherally involved in the ], but one episode had important consequences. When the French under ] seized Venice in 1797, they also acquired the ], thus ending the four hundredth year of ].<ref>{{cite book |author= Davy, John |title= Notes and observations on the Ionian Islands and Malta |url= https://archive.org/details/notesandobserva02davygoog |publisher= Smith, Elder |year= 1842 |pages=–28 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author= American Baptist Foreign Mission Society |title= The Missionary magazine |publisher= American Baptist Missionary Union |year= 1848 |page=25 }}</ref> The islands were elevated to the status of a French dependency called the ], which possessed local autonomy. This was the first time Greeks had governed themselves since the fall of Trebizond in 1461. | |||
On the other hand, the position of educated and privileged Greeks within the Ottoman Empire improved greatly in the 17th and 18th centuries. As the empire became more settled, and began to feel its increasing backwardness in relation to the European powers, it increasingly recruited Greeks who had the kind of administrative, technical and financial skills which the Ottomans lacked.<ref>Eric Hobsbawm, ], Part 1, Chapter 7, II - pp. 140-142.</ref> | |||
From the late 1600s Greeks began to fill some of the highest and most important offices of the Ottoman state. The ], a class of wealthy Greeks who lived in the ] of Constantinople, became increasingly powerful. Their travels to Western Europe as merchants or diplomats brought them into contact with advanced ideas of ] and ], and it was among the Phanariotes that the modern Greek nationalist movement was born. Many Greek merchants and travelers were influenced by the ideas of the ] and a new Age of ] was initiated at the beginning of the 17th century in many Ottoman occupied Greek cities and towns. | |||
Greek nationalism was also stimulated by agents of ], the Orthodox ruler of the ], who hoped to acquire the lands of the declining Ottoman state, including Constantinople itself, by inciting a Christian rebellion against the Ottomans. However, during the ] which broke out in 1768, the Greeks did not rebel, disillusioning their Russian patrons. The ] (1774) gave Russia the right to make "representations" to the Sultan in defense of his Orthodox subjects, and the Russians began to interfere regularly in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire. This, combined with the new ideas let loose by the ] of 1789, began to reconnect the Greeks with the outside world and led to the development of an active nationalist movement, one of the most progressive of the time. | |||
Greece was peripherally involved in the ], but one episode had important consequences. When the French under ] seized Venice in 1797, they also acquired the ], thus ending the four hundredth year of ].<ref>{{cite book |author= Davy, John |title= Notes and observations on the Ionian Islands and Malta |publisher= Smith, Elder |year= 1842 |pages=27–28 |isbn= }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author= American Baptist Foreign Mission Society |title= The Missionary magazine |publisher= American Baptist Missionary Union |year= 1848 |page=25 |isbn= }}</ref> The islands were elevated to the status of a French dependency called the ], which possessed local autonomy. This was the first time Greeks had governed themselves since the fall of Trebizond in 1461. | |||
Among those who held office in the islands was ], destined to become independent Greece's first head of state. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Greece had re-emerged from its centuries of isolation. British and French writers and artists began to visit the country, and wealthy Europeans began to collect Greek antiquities. These "]s" were to play an important role in mobilizing support for Greek independence. | Among those who held office in the islands was ], destined to become independent Greece's first head of state. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Greece had re-emerged from its centuries of isolation. British and French writers and artists began to visit the country, and wealthy Europeans began to collect Greek antiquities. These "]s" were to play an important role in mobilizing support for Greek independence. | ||
==Uprisings before 1821== | ===Uprisings before 1821=== | ||
], by ] (1848)]] | |||
]]] | |||
Greeks in various places of the Greek peninsula would at times rise up against Ottoman rule, mainly while taking advantage of wars the Ottoman Empire would engage |
Greeks in various places of the Greek peninsula would at times rise up against Ottoman rule, mainly while taking advantage of wars the Ottoman Empire would engage in. Those uprisings were of mixed scale and impact. During the ], the ] Kladas brothers, ] and Epifani, were leading bands of ] on behalf of Venice against the Turks in Southern Peloponnese. They put ] and their lands into Venetian possession, for which Epifani then acted as governor.<ref>Longnon, J. 1949. ''Chronique de Morée'': Livre de la conqueste de la princée de l’Amorée, 1204-1305. Paris.</ref> | ||
Before and after the victory of the ] in 1571 at the ] a ] broke out in the peninsula such as in Epirus, ] (recorded in the '']'') and the Peloponnese, led by the Melissinos brothers and others. They were crushed by the following year.<ref>Απόστολου Βακαλόπουλου, Ιστορία του Νέου Ελληνισμού, Γ’ τομ., Θεσσαλονίκη 1968</ref> Short-term revolts of local level occurred throughout the region such as the ones led by metropolitan bishop ] in Thessaly (1600) and Epirus (1611).<ref>Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall: Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches: Bd. 1574-1623, p. 442; note a. "Prete scorticato, la pelle sua piena di paglia portata in Constantinopoli con molte teste dei figli d'Albanesi, che avevano intelligenza colli Spagnoli"</ref> | |||
During the ], the ] would aid ] and the Venetians in the Peloponnese.<ref>Setton, Kenneth Meyer (1991), Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the Seventeenth Century, DIANE Publishing p189</ref> Greek irregulars also aided the Venetians through the ] in their operations on the ] and Peloponnese.<ref>Finlay, George (1856). The History of Greece under Othoman and Venetian Domination. London: William Blackwood and Sons. p 210-3</ref> | |||
A major uprising during that period was the ] (Greek: Ορλωφικά) which took place during the ] and triggered armed unrest in both the Greek mainland and the ].<ref>George Childs Kohn (Editor) 650 pages ISBN |
A major uprising during that period was the ] (Greek: Ορλωφικά) which took place during the ] and triggered armed unrest in both the Greek mainland and the ].<ref>George Childs Kohn (Editor) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109192640/http://www.scribd.com/doc/31933094/Dictionary-of-Wars |date=2013-11-09 }} 650 pages {{ISBN|1-57958-204-4}} {{ISBN|978-1579582043}} Page 155</ref> In 1778, a Greek fleet of seventy vessels assembled by ] which harassed the Turkish squadrons in the ], captured the island of ] and engaged the Turkish fleet in naval battles until 1790.<ref>Finley, The history of Greece under Othman and Venetian Domination, 1856 pp. 330-334</ref><ref>Dakin, Douglas ''The Greek Struggle for Independence, 1821–1833'', University of California Press, (1973) pp. 26–27</ref> | ||
== |
===Greek War of Independence=== | ||
{{ |
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2019}} | ||
{{main|Greek War of Independence}} | {{main|Greek War of Independence}} | ||
] |
]" by ].]] | ||
]'' (1824) by ].]] | ]'' (1824) by ].]] | ||
A secret Greek nationalist organization called the "Friendly Society" or "Company of Friends" ('']'') was formed in ] in 1814. The members of the organization planned a rebellion with the support of wealthy Greek exile communities in ] and the ]. They also gained support from sympathizers in Western Europe, as well as covert assistance from Russia. The organization secured Capodistria, who became Russian Foreign Minister after leaving the Ionian Islands, as the leader of the planned revolt. On March 25 (now Greek Independence Day) 1821, the Orthodox Bishop ] proclaimed a national uprising.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1436276/Greek-Independence-Day|title=Greek Independence Day.|publisher= www.britannica.com |access-date=2009-09-09|quote= The Greek revolt was precipitated on March 25, 1821, when Bishop Germanos of Patras raised the flag of revolution over the Monastery of Agia Lavra in the Peloponnese. The cry "Freedom or Death" became the motto of the revolution. The Greeks experienced early successes on the battlefield, including the capture of Athens in June 1822, but infighting ensued.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author= McManners, John |title=The Oxford illustrated history of Christianity |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |pages=521–524 |isbn=0-19-285439-9 |quote= The Greek uprising and the church. Bishop Germanos of old Patras blesses the Greek banner at the outset of the national revolt against the Ottomans on 25 March 1821. The solemnity of the scene was enhanced two decades later in this painting by T. Vryzakis….The fact that one of the Greek bishops, Germanos of Old Patras, had enthusiastically blessed the Greek uprising at the onset (25 March 1821) and had thereby helped to unleash a holy war, was not to gain the church a satisfactory, let alone a dominant, role in the new order of things.}}</ref> The Ottomans, in retaliation orchestrated the ] and similar pogroms in Smyrna.<ref></ref> | |||
Simultaneous risings were planned across Greece, including in ], ], and ]. With the initial advantage of surprise, aided by Ottoman inefficiency and the Ottomans' fight against ], the Greeks succeeded in capturing the Peloponnese and some other areas. Some of the first Greek actions were taken against unarmed Ottoman settlements, with about 40% of Turkish and Albanian Muslim residents of the Peloponnese killed outright, and the rest fleeing the area or being deported.<ref>Jelavich, p. 217.</ref> | |||
A secret Greek nationalist organization called the "Friendly Society" or "Company of Friends" ('']'') was formed in ] in 1814. The members of the organization planned a rebellion with the support of wealthy Greek exile communities in ] and the ]. They also gained support from sympathizers in Western Europe, as well as covert assistance from Russia. The organization secured Capodistria, who became Russian Foreign Minister after leaving the Ionian Islands, as the leader of the planned revolt. On March 25 (now Greek Independence Day) 1821, the Orthodox Bishop ] proclaimed a national uprising.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1436276/Greek-Independence-Day|title=Greek Independence Day.|publisher= www.britannica.com |accessdate=2009-09-09|last=|first=|quote= The Greek revolt was precipitated on March 25, 1821, when Bishop Germanos of Patras raised the flag of revolution over the Monastery of Agia Lavra in the Peloponnese. The cry “Freedom or Death” became the motto of the revolution. The Greeks experienced early successes on the battlefield, including the capture of Athens in June 1822, but infighting ensued.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author= McManners, John |title=The Oxford illustrated history of Christianity |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |pages=521–524 |isbn=0-19-285439-9 |quote= The Greek uprising and the church. Bishop Germanos of old Patras blesses the Greek banner at the outset of the national revolt against the Ottomans on 25 March 1821. The solemnity of the scene was enhanced two decades later in this painting by T. Vryzakis….The fact that one of the Greek bishops, Germanos of Old Patras, had enthusiastically blessed the Greek uprising at the onset (25 March 1821) and had thereby helped to unleash a holy war, was not to gain the church a satisfactory, let alone a dominant, role in the new order of things.}}</ref> | |||
The Ottomans recovered, and retaliated in turn with savagery, ] the Greek population of ] and other towns. This worked to their disadvantage by provoking further sympathy for the Greeks in Britain and France.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} The Greeks were unable to establish a strong government in the areas they controlled, and ]. Inconclusive fighting between Greeks and Ottomans continued until 1825 when the Sultan sent a powerful fleet and army who were mainly Bedouin and some Sudanese from ] under ] to suppress the revolution, promising to him the rule of Peloponnese, however they were eventually defeated in the Battle of Navarino in 1827. | |||
Simultaneous risings were planned across Greece, including in ], ], and ]. With the initial advantage of surprise, aided by Ottoman inefficiency and the Ottomans' fight against ] of Tepelen, the Greeks succeeded in capturing the Peloponnese and some other areas. Some of the first Greek actions were taken against unarmed Ottoman settlements, with about 40% of Turkish and Albanian Muslim residents of the Peloponnese killed outright, and the rest fleeing the area or being deported.<ref>Jelavich, p. 217.</ref> | |||
The atrocities that accompanied this expedition, together with sympathy aroused by the death of the poet and leading philhellene ] at ] in 1824, eventually led the Great Powers to intervene. In October 1827, the British, French and Russian fleets, on the initiative of local commanders, but with the tacit approval of their governments, destroyed the Ottoman fleet at the ]. This was the decisive moment in the war of independence. | |||
The Ottomans recovered, and retaliated in turn with savagery, massacring the Greek population of ] and other towns.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} This worked to their disadvantage by provoking further sympathy for the Greeks in Britain and France, although the British and French governments suspected that the uprising was a Russian plot to seize Greece and possibly Constantinople from the Ottomans.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} The Greeks were unable to establish a strong government in the areas they controlled, and characteristically fell to fighting amongst themselves. Inconclusive fighting between Greeks and Ottomans continued until 1825 when the Sultan sent a powerful fleet and army from ] to ravage the ] and the Peloponnese.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} | |||
In October 1828, the French landed troops in the Peloponnese to evacuate it from Ibrahim's army, while Russia was since April ] against the Ottomans. Under their protection, the Greeks were able to reorganize, form a new government and defeat the Ottomans in the ], the final battle of the war. They then advanced to seize as much territory as possible before the Western powers imposed a ceasefire. | |||
The atrocities that accompanied this expedition, together with sympathy aroused by the death of the poet and leading philhellene ] at ] in 1824, eventually led the Great Powers to intervene. In October 1827, the British, French and Russian fleets, on the initiative of local commanders but with the tacit approval of their governments destroyed the Ottoman fleet at the ]. This was the decisive moment in the war of independence. | |||
A conference in London in 1830 proposed a fully independent Greek state (and not autonomous as previously proposed). The final borders were defined during the ] with the northern frontier running from ] to ], and including only ] and the ] among the islands. The Greeks were disappointed at these restricted frontiers, but were in no position to resist the will of Britain, France and Russia, who had contributed mightily to Greek independence. By the Convention of May 11, 1832, Greece was finally recognized as a sovereign state. | |||
In October 1828, the French landed troops in the Peloponnese to stop the Ottoman atrocities. Under their protection, the Greeks were able to regroup and form a new government. They then advanced to seize as much territory as possible, including ] and ], before the Western Powers imposed a ceasefire. | |||
Capodistria, who had been Greece's governor since 1828, had been assassinated by the ] in October 1831. To prevent further experiments with republican government, the Great Powers, especially Russia,{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} insisted that Greece should be a monarchy, and the Bavarian Prince ] was chosen to be its first King. | |||
A conference in London in March 1829 proposed an independent Greek state with a northern frontier running from ] to ], and including only ] and the ] among the islands. The Greeks were disappointed at these restricted frontiers, but were in no position to resist the will of Britain, France and Russia, who had contributed mightily to Greek independence. By the Convention of May 11, 1832, Greece was finally recognized as a sovereign state. | |||
When the Ottomans finally granted the Greeks their independence, a multi-power treaty was formally established in 1830. Capodistria, who had been Greece's unrecognized head of state since 1828, was assassinated by the Mavromichalis family in October 1831. To prevent further experiments in republican government, the Great Powers, especially Russia, insisted that Greece be a monarchy, and the Bavarian Prince ], was chosen to be its first king. | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
{{ |
{{Portal|Greece}} | ||
* ] | |||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
* |
* Finkel, Caroline. ''Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1923''. New York: Basic Books, 2005. {{ISBN|978-0-465-02396-7}}. | ||
* |
* Hobsbawm, Eric John. ''The Age of Revolution''. New American Library, 1962. {{ISBN|0-451-62720-2}}. | ||
* Jelavich, Barbara. ''History of the Balkans, 18th and 19th Centuries''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983. {{ISBN|0-521-27458-3}}. | |||
*Paroulakis, Peter H. ''The Greek War of Independence''. Hellenic International Press, 1984. | |||
* Paroulakis, Peter H. ''The Greek War of Independence''. Hellenic International Press, 1984. | |||
*Shaw, Stanford. ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Volume I''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977. | |||
* |
* Shaw, Stanford. ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Volume I''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977. | ||
* Vacalopoulos, Apostolis. ''The Greek Nation, 1453–1669''. Rutgers University Press, 1976. | |||
* Finkel, Caroline, ''Osman's Dream'', (Basic Books, 2005), 57; "Istanbul was only adopted as the city's official name in 1930..". | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
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{{History of Ottoman}} | {{History of Ottoman}} | ||
{{Greek War of Independence|state=collapsed}} | |||
{{Ottoman Greece}} | {{Ottoman Greece}} | ||
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Latest revision as of 21:25, 6 January 2025
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The vast majority of the territory of present-day Greece was at some point incorporated within the Ottoman Empire. The period of Ottoman rule in Greece, lasting from the mid-15th century until the successful Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821 and the First Hellenic Republic was proclaimed in 1822, is known in Greece as Turkocracy (Greek: Τουρκοκρατία, Tourkokratia, "Turkish rule"). Some regions, like the Ionian islands and various temporary Venetian possessions of the Stato da Mar, were not incorporated in the Ottoman Empire. The Mani Peninsula in the Peloponnese was not fully integrated into the Ottoman Empire, but was under Ottoman suzerainty.
The Eastern Roman Empire, which ruled most of the Greek-speaking world for over 1100 years, had been fatally weakened since the Fourth Crusade of 1204. Having defeated the Serbs, the Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453 and soon advanced southwards capturing Athens in 1456 and the Peloponnese in 1460. By the early 16th century, all of mainland Greece and most of the Aegean Islands were in Ottoman hands, excluding several port cities that were still held by the Venetians (notably Nafplio, Monemvasia, Parga and Methone). The mountains of Greece remained largely untouched and were a refuge for Greeks who desired to flee Ottoman rule and engage in guerrilla warfare. The Cyclades islands were annexed by the Ottomans in 1579, although they had been under vassal status since the 1530s. Cyprus fell in 1571, and the Venetians retained Crete until 1669. The Ionian Islands were never ruled by the Ottomans, with the exception of Kefalonia (from 1479 to 1481 and from 1485 to 1500), but remained under the rule of the Venice. It was in the Ionian Islands that modern Greek statehood was born, with the creation of the Republic of the Seven Islands in 1800.
Ottoman Greece was a multiethnic society, although the Ottoman system of millets did not correspond to the contemporary notion of multiculturalism. The Greeks were given some privileges and freedom, but they also suffered from the malpractices of its administrative personnel over which the central government had only remote and incomplete control. Despite losing their political independence, the Greeks remained dominant in the fields of commerce and business. The consolidation of Ottoman power in the 15th and the 16th centuries rendered the Mediterranean safe for Greek shipping, and Greek shipowners became the empire's maritime carriers and made tremendous profits. After the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Lepanto, however, Greek ships often became the target of attacks by Catholic (especially Spanish and Maltese) pirates.
The five century period of Ottoman rule had a profound impact in Greek society, as new elites emerged. The Greek land-owning aristocracy that traditionally dominated the Byzantine Empire suffered a tragic fate and was almost completely destroyed. The new leading class in Ottoman Greece were the prokritoi, which were called kocabaşis by the Ottomans. They were essentially bureaucrats and tax collectors and gained a negative reputation for corruption and nepotism. On the other hand, the Phanariots became prominent in the imperial capital of Constantinople as businessmen and diplomats, and the Greek Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarch rose to great power under the Sultan's protection and gained religious control over the entire Orthodox population of the empire, whether it spoke Greek, Albanian, Latin or Slavic.
Ottoman expansion
After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, the Despotate of the Morea was the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire to hold out against the Ottomans. However, it fell to the Ottomans in 1460, completing the conquest of mainland Greece.
While most of mainland Greece and the Aegean islands was under Ottoman control by the end of the 15th century, Cyprus and Crete remained Venetian territory and did not fall to the Ottomans until 1571 and 1670. The only part of the Greek-speaking world that was never under Ottoman rule is the Ionian Islands, which remained Venetian until 1797. Corfu withstood three major sieges in 1537, 1571 and 1716 all of which resulted in the repulsion of the Ottomans.
Other areas that remained part of the Venetian Stato da Màr include Nafplio and Monemvasia until 1540, the Duchy of the Archipelago, centered on the islands of Naxos and Paros until 1579, Sifnos until 1617 and Tinos until 1715.
- Sultan Mehmed II's entry into Constantinople
- Ottoman Janissaries and defending Knights of Saint John at the Siege of Rhodes (1522)
- The "Battle of Preveza" (1538) by Ohannes Umed Behzad
- The "Battle of Lepanto" (1571) prevented the Ottomans from expanding further
- Siege of Candia (1648-1669)
Ottoman rule
The consolidation of Ottoman rule was followed by two distinct trends of Greek migration. The first entailed Greek intellectuals, such as Basilios Bessarion, Georgius Plethon Gemistos and Marcos Mousouros, migrating to other parts of Western Europe and influencing the advent of the Renaissance (though the large scale migration of Greeks to other parts of Europe, most notably Italian university cities, began far earlier, following the Crusader capture of Constantinople). This trend had also effect on the creation of the modern Greek diaspora.
The second entailed Greeks leaving the plains of the Greek peninsula and resettling in the mountains, where the rugged landscape made it hard for the Ottomans to establish either military or administrative presence.
Administration
See also: Phanariotes and KodjabashisThe Sultan sat at the apex of the government of the Ottoman Empire. Although he had the trappings of an absolute ruler, he was actually bound by tradition and convention. Ottoman rule of the provinces was characterized by two main functions. The local administrators within the provinces were to maintain a military establishment and to collect taxes. The military establishment was feudal in character. The Sultan's cavalry were allotted land, either large allotments or small allotments based on the rank of the individual cavalryman. All non-Muslims were forbidden to ride a horse which made traveling more difficult. The Ottomans divided Greece into six sanjaks, each ruled by a Sanjakbey accountable to the Sultan, who established his capital in Constantinople in 1453.
The conquered land was parceled out to Ottoman warriors, who held it as feudal fiefs (timars and ziamets) directly under the Sultan's authority. This land could not be sold or inherited, but reverted to the Sultan's possession when the fief-holder (timariot) died. During their life-times they served as cavalrymen in the Sultan's army, living well on the proceeds of their estates with the land being tilled largely by peasants. Many Ottoman timariots were descended from the pre-Ottoman Christian nobility, and shifted their allegiance to the Ottomans following the conquest of the Balkans. Conversion to Islam was not a requirement, and as late as the fifteenth century many timariots were known to be Christian, although their numbers gradually decreased over time.
The Ottomans basically installed this feudal system right over the top of the existing system of peasant tenure. The peasantry remained in possession of their own land and their tenure over their plot of land remained hereditary and inalienable. Nor was any military service ever imposed on the peasant by the Ottoman government. All non-Muslims were in theory forbidden from carrying arms, but this was ignored. Indeed, in regions such as Crete, almost every man carried arms.
Greek Christian families were, however, subject to a system of child conscription known as the devshirme. The Ottomans required that selected male children from Christian peasant villages be conscripted and enrolled in the corps of Janissaries for military training in the Sultan's army. Others were trained as the intelligentsia and imperial administrators. Such recruitment was sporadic, and the proportion of children conscripted varied from region to region. The practice largely came to an end by the middle of the seventeenth century.
Under the Ottoman system of government, Greek society was at the same time fostered and restricted. With one hand the Ottoman regime gave privileges and freedom to its subject people; with the other it imposed a tyranny deriving from the malpractices of its administrative personnel over which it exercised only remote and incomplete control. In fact the "rayahs" were commoners. The term rayah came to denote an underprivileged, tax-ridden and socially inferior population.
Religion
Main articles: Rum Millet and Ecumenical Patriarchate of ConstantinopleThe Sultan regarded the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church as the leader of all Orthodox, Greeks or not, within the empire. The Patriarch was accountable to the Sultan for the good behavior of the Orthodox population, and in exchange he was given wide powers over the Orthodox communities, including the non-Greek Slavic peoples. The Patriarch controlled the courts and the schools, as well as the Church, throughout the Greek communities of the empire. This made Orthodox priests, together with the local magnates, called Prokritoi or Dimogerontes, the effective rulers of Greek towns and cities. Some Greek towns, such as Athens and Rhodes, retained municipal self-government, while others were put under Ottoman governors. Several areas, such as the Mani Peninsula in the Peloponnese, and parts of Crete (Sfakia) and Epirus, remained virtually independent.
The Patriarchate of Constantinople in general remained loyal to the Ottomans against the western threats (as for example during the Dionysios Skylosophos revolt, etc.) The Orthodox Church assisted greatly in the preservation of the Greek heritage, and adherence to the Greek Orthodox faith became increasingly a mark of Greek nationality.
As a rule, the Ottomans did not require the Greeks to become Muslims, although many did so on a superficial level in order to avert the socioeconomic hardships of Ottoman rule or because of the alleged corruption of the Greek clergy. The regions of Greece which had the largest concentrations of Ottoman Greek Muslims were Macedonia, notably the Vallaades, neighboring Epirus, and Crete (see Cretan Muslims). Under the millet logic, Greek Muslims, despite often retaining elements of their Greek culture and language, were classified simply as "Muslim", although most Greek Orthodox Christians deemed them to have "turned-Turk" and therefore saw them as traitors to their original ethno-religious communities.
Some Greeks either became New Martyrs, such as Saint Efraim the Neo-Martyr or Saint Demetrios the Neo-martyr while others became Crypto-Christians (Greek Muslims who were secret practitioners of the Greek Orthodox faith) in order to avoid heavy taxes and at the same time express their identity by maintaining their secret ties to the Greek Orthodox Church. Crypto-Christians officially ran the risk of being killed if they were caught practicing a non-Muslim religion once they converted to Islam. There were also instances of Greeks from theocratic or Byzantine nobility embracing Islam such as John Tzelepes Komnenos and Misac Palaeologos Pasha.
Treatment of Christian subjects varied greatly under the rule of the Ottoman Sultans. Bayezid I, according to a Byzantine historian, freely admitted Christians into his society while trying to grow his empire, in the early Ottoman period. Later, although the Turkish ruler attempted to pacify the local population with a restoration of peacetime rule of law, the Christian population also became subject to special taxes and the tribute of Christian children to the Ottoman state to feed the ranks of the Janissary corps. Violent persecutions of Christians did nevertheless take place under the reign of Selim I (1512-1520), known as Selim the Grim, who attempted to stamp out Christianity from the Ottoman Empire. Selim ordered the confiscation of all Christian churches, and while this order was later rescinded, Christians were heavily persecuted during his era.
Taxation and the "tribute of children"
See also: Greek MuslimsGreeks paid a land tax and a heavy tax on trade, the latter taking advantage of the wealthy Greeks to fill the state coffers. Greeks, like other Christians, were also made to pay the jizya, or Islamic poll-tax which all non-Muslims in the empire were forced to pay instead of the Zakat that Muslims must pay as part of the 5 pillars of Islam. Failure to pay the jizya could result in the pledge of protection of the Christian's life and property becoming void, facing the alternatives of conversion, enslavement, or death.
Like in the rest of the Ottoman Empire, Greeks had to carry a receipt certifying their payment of jizya at all times or be subject to imprisonment. Most Greeks did not have to serve in the Sultan's army, but the young boys that were taken away and converted to Islam were made to serve in the Ottoman military. In addition, girls were taken in order to serve as odalisques in harems.
These practices are called the "tribute of children" (devshirmeh) (in Greek παιδομάζωμα paidomazoma, meaning "child gathering"), whereby every Christian community was required to give one son in five to be raised as a Muslim and enrolled in the corps of Janissaries, elite units of the Ottoman army. There was much resistance to this. For example, Greek folklore tells of mothers crippling their sons to avoid their abduction. Nevertheless, entrance into the corps (accompanied by conversion to Islam) offered Greek boys the opportunity to advance as high as governor or even Grand Vizier.
Opposition of the Greek populace to taxing or paidomazoma resulted in grave consequences. For example, in 1705 an Ottoman official was sent from Naoussa in Macedonia to search and conscript new Janissaries and was killed by Greek rebels who resisted the burden of the devshirmeh. The rebels were subsequently beheaded and their severed heads were displayed in the city of Thessaloniki. In some cases, it was greatly feared as Greek families would often have to relinquish their own sons who would convert and return later as their oppressors. In other cases, the families bribed the officers to ensure that their children got a better life as a government officer.
Influence on tradition
See also: Greek folk music and RebetikoAfter the 16th century, many Greek folk songs (dimotika) were produced and inspired from the way of life of the Greek people, brigands and the armed conflicts during the centuries of Ottoman rule. Klephtic songs (Greek: Κλέφτικα τραγούδια), or ballads, are a subgenre of the Greek folk music genre and are thematically oriented on the life of the klephts. Prominent conflicts were immortalised in several folk tales and songs, such as the epic ballad To tragoudi tou Daskalogianni of 1786, about the resistance warfare under Daskalogiannis.
Emergence of Greek nationalism
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Over the course of the eighteenth century Ottoman landholdings, previously fiefs held directly from the Sultan, became hereditary estates (chifliks), which could be sold or bequeathed to heirs. The new class of Ottoman landlords reduced the hitherto free Greek peasants to serfdom, leading to further poverty and depopulation in the plains.
On the other hand, the position of educated and privileged Greeks within the Ottoman Empire improved greatly in the 17th and 18th centuries. From the late 1600s Greeks began to fill some of the highest and most important offices of the Ottoman state. The Phanariotes, a class of wealthy Greeks who lived in the Phanar district of Constantinople, became increasingly powerful. Their travels to Western Europe as merchants or diplomats brought them into contact with advanced ideas of liberalism and nationalism, and it was among the Phanariotes that the modern Greek nationalist movement was born. Many Greek merchants and travelers were influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution and a new Age of Greek Enlightenment was initiated at the beginning of the 19th century in many Ottoman-ruled Greek cities and towns.
Greek nationalism was also stimulated by agents of Catherine the Great, the Orthodox ruler of the Russian Empire, who hoped to acquire Ottoman territory, including Constantinople itself, by inciting a Christian rebellion against the Ottomans. However, during the Russian-Ottoman War which broke out in 1768, the Greeks did not rebel, disillusioning their Russian patrons. The Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji (1774) gave Russia the right to make "representations" to the Sultan in defense of his Orthodox subjects, and the Russians began to interfere regularly in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire. This, combined with the new ideas let loose by the French Revolution of 1789, began to reconnect the Greeks with the outside world and led to the development of an active nationalist movement, one of the most progressive of the time.
Greece was peripherally involved in the Napoleonic Wars, but one episode had important consequences. When the French under Napoleon Bonaparte seized Venice in 1797, they also acquired the Ionian Islands, thus ending the four hundredth year of Venetian rule over the Ionian Islands. The islands were elevated to the status of a French dependency called the Septinsular Republic, which possessed local autonomy. This was the first time Greeks had governed themselves since the fall of Trebizond in 1461.
Among those who held office in the islands was John Capodistria, destined to become independent Greece's first head of state. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Greece had re-emerged from its centuries of isolation. British and French writers and artists began to visit the country, and wealthy Europeans began to collect Greek antiquities. These "philhellenes" were to play an important role in mobilizing support for Greek independence.
Uprisings before 1821
Greeks in various places of the Greek peninsula would at times rise up against Ottoman rule, mainly while taking advantage of wars the Ottoman Empire would engage in. Those uprisings were of mixed scale and impact. During the Ottoman–Venetian War (1463–1479), the Maniot Kladas brothers, Krokodelos and Epifani, were leading bands of stratioti on behalf of Venice against the Turks in Southern Peloponnese. They put Vardounia and their lands into Venetian possession, for which Epifani then acted as governor.
Before and after the victory of the Holy League in 1571 at the Battle of Lepanto a series of conflicts broke out in the peninsula such as in Epirus, Phocis (recorded in the Chronicle of Galaxeidi) and the Peloponnese, led by the Melissinos brothers and others. They were crushed by the following year. Short-term revolts of local level occurred throughout the region such as the ones led by metropolitan bishop Dionysius the Philosopher in Thessaly (1600) and Epirus (1611).
During the Cretan War (1645–1669), the Maniots would aid Francesco Morosini and the Venetians in the Peloponnese. Greek irregulars also aided the Venetians through the Morean War in their operations on the Ionian Sea and Peloponnese.
A major uprising during that period was the Orlov Revolt (Greek: Ορλωφικά) which took place during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) and triggered armed unrest in both the Greek mainland and the islands. In 1778, a Greek fleet of seventy vessels assembled by Lambros Katsonis which harassed the Turkish squadrons in the Aegean Sea, captured the island of Kastelorizo and engaged the Turkish fleet in naval battles until 1790.
Greek War of Independence
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A secret Greek nationalist organization called the "Friendly Society" or "Company of Friends" (Filiki Eteria) was formed in Odessa in 1814. The members of the organization planned a rebellion with the support of wealthy Greek exile communities in Britain and the United States. They also gained support from sympathizers in Western Europe, as well as covert assistance from Russia. The organization secured Capodistria, who became Russian Foreign Minister after leaving the Ionian Islands, as the leader of the planned revolt. On March 25 (now Greek Independence Day) 1821, the Orthodox Bishop Germanos of Patras proclaimed a national uprising. The Ottomans, in retaliation orchestrated the Constantinople massacre of 1821 and similar pogroms in Smyrna.
Simultaneous risings were planned across Greece, including in Macedonia, Crete, and Cyprus. With the initial advantage of surprise, aided by Ottoman inefficiency and the Ottomans' fight against Ali Pasha of Tepelen, the Greeks succeeded in capturing the Peloponnese and some other areas. Some of the first Greek actions were taken against unarmed Ottoman settlements, with about 40% of Turkish and Albanian Muslim residents of the Peloponnese killed outright, and the rest fleeing the area or being deported.
The Ottomans recovered, and retaliated in turn with savagery, massacring the Greek population of Chios and other towns. This worked to their disadvantage by provoking further sympathy for the Greeks in Britain and France. The Greeks were unable to establish a strong government in the areas they controlled, and fell to fighting amongst themselves. Inconclusive fighting between Greeks and Ottomans continued until 1825 when the Sultan sent a powerful fleet and army who were mainly Bedouin and some Sudanese from Egypt under Ibrahim Pasha to suppress the revolution, promising to him the rule of Peloponnese, however they were eventually defeated in the Battle of Navarino in 1827.
The atrocities that accompanied this expedition, together with sympathy aroused by the death of the poet and leading philhellene Lord Byron at Messolongi in 1824, eventually led the Great Powers to intervene. In October 1827, the British, French and Russian fleets, on the initiative of local commanders, but with the tacit approval of their governments, destroyed the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Navarino. This was the decisive moment in the war of independence.
In October 1828, the French landed troops in the Peloponnese to evacuate it from Ibrahim's army, while Russia was since April at war against the Ottomans. Under their protection, the Greeks were able to reorganize, form a new government and defeat the Ottomans in the Battle of Petra, the final battle of the war. They then advanced to seize as much territory as possible before the Western powers imposed a ceasefire.
A conference in London in 1830 proposed a fully independent Greek state (and not autonomous as previously proposed). The final borders were defined during the London Conference of 1832 with the northern frontier running from Arta to Volos, and including only Euboia and the Cyclades among the islands. The Greeks were disappointed at these restricted frontiers, but were in no position to resist the will of Britain, France and Russia, who had contributed mightily to Greek independence. By the Convention of May 11, 1832, Greece was finally recognized as a sovereign state.
Capodistria, who had been Greece's governor since 1828, had been assassinated by the Mavromichalis family in October 1831. To prevent further experiments with republican government, the Great Powers, especially Russia, insisted that Greece should be a monarchy, and the Bavarian Prince Otto was chosen to be its first King.
See also
- Dragomans
- Giaour
- Greek Muslims
- List of former mosques in Greece
- Ionian Islands under Venetian rule
- Phanariotes
- Rayah
- Sipahis
- Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece (1453–1821)
- Hellenoturkism
References
- Bruce Merry, Encyclopedia of Modern Greek Literature, oTurkocracy, p. 442.
- World and Its Peoples. Marshall Cavendish. 2009. p. 1478. ISBN 978-0-7614-7902-4.
The klephts were descendants of Greeks who fled into the mountains to avoid the Turks in the fifteenth century and who remained active as brigands into the nineteenth century.
- Maurus Reinkowski, "Ottoman "Multiculturalism"? The Example of the Confessional System in Lebanon". Lecture, Istanbul, 1997. Edited by the Orient-Institut der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, Beirut,1999, pp. 15, 16.
- Douglas Dakin, The Greek Struggle for Independence, 1821-1833. University of California Press, p. 16.
- ^ http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i9187.pdf
- Clogg, 2002
- "Greece During the Byzantine Period: The Peloponnese advances". britannica.com. Online Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
- Treadgold, Warren. History of Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, 1997.
- Vacalopoulos, p. 45. "The Greeks never lost their desire to escape from the heavy hand of the Turks, bad government, the impressment of their children, the increasingly heavy taxation, and the sundry caprices of the conqueror. Indeed, anyone studying the last two centuries of Byzantine rule cannot help being struck by the propensity of the Greeks to flee misfortune. The routes they chiefly took were: first, to the predominantly Greek territories, which were either still free or Frankish-controlled (that is to say, the Venetian fortresses in the Despotate of Morea, as well as in the Aegean and Ionian Islands) or else to Italy and the West generally; second, to remote mountain districts in the interior where the conqueror's yoke was not yet felt."
- Woodhouse, C. M. (1998). Modern Greece: A Short History. London: Faber & Faber Pub. p. 100. ISBN 978-0571197941.
- ^ C. M. Woodhouse, Modern Greece: A Short History, p. 101.
- Lowry, Heath (2003). The Nature of the Early Ottoman State. Albany: SUNY Press. pp. 90–2. ISBN 0-7914-5636-6.
- Douglas Dakin, 1973, p. 16.
- Crypto-Christians of the Trabzon Region of Pontos
- The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 143
- ^ The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 137-138
- The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 128
- Paroulakis, p. 11.
- Douglas Dakin,the Greek struggle for independence, 1972
- James E. Lindsay Daily life in the medieval Islamic world, (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005) p.121
- Waterfield, Robert (2005). Athens: A History, From Ancient Ideal To Modern City. Basic Books. p. 285. ISBN 0-465-09063-X.
- Zilfi, Madeline C. (2010). Women and slavery in the late Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521515832.
- Vasdravellis, I. Οι Μακεδόνες κατά την Επανάστασιν του 1821 (The Macedonians during the Revolution of 1821), 3rd improved edition, Thessaloniki: Society of Macedonian Studies, 1967.
- Shaw, p. 114.
- Mittheilungen aus der Geschichte und Dichtung der Neu-Griechen. Zweiter Band. Coblenz: Jacob Hölscher. 1825.
- Roderick Beaton Folk Poetry of Modern Greece 248 pages Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 20, 2004) ISBN 0-521-60420-6 ISBN 978-0521604208
- Hutton, James (1946). The Greek anthology in France and in the Latin writers of the Netherlands to the year 1800 Volume 28. Cornell University Press. p. 188. OCLC 3305912.
LEONARD PHILARAS or VILLERET (c. 1595–1673) Philaras was born in Athens of good family and spent his childhood there. His youth was passed in Rome, where he was educated, and his manhood
- Merry, Bruce (2004). Encyclopedia of modern Greek literature. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 442. ISBN 0-313-30813-6.
Leonardos Filaras (1595–1673) devoted much of his career to coaxing Western European intellectuals to support Greek liberation. Two letters from Milton (1608–1674) attest Filaras's patriotic crusade.
- Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848, Part 1, Chapter 7, II, pp. 140–142.
- Davy, John (1842). Notes and observations on the Ionian Islands and Malta. Smith, Elder. pp. 27–28.
- American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (1848). The Missionary magazine. American Baptist Missionary Union. p. 25.
- Longnon, J. 1949. Chronique de Morée: Livre de la conqueste de la princée de l’Amorée, 1204-1305. Paris.
- Απόστολου Βακαλόπουλου, Ιστορία του Νέου Ελληνισμού, Γ’ τομ., Θεσσαλονίκη 1968
- Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall: Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches: Bd. 1574-1623, p. 442; note a. "Prete scorticato, la pelle sua piena di paglia portata in Constantinopoli con molte teste dei figli d'Albanesi, che avevano intelligenza colli Spagnoli"
- Setton, Kenneth Meyer (1991), Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the Seventeenth Century, DIANE Publishing p189
- Finlay, George (1856). The History of Greece under Othoman and Venetian Domination. London: William Blackwood and Sons. p 210-3
- George Childs Kohn (Editor) Dictionary of Wars Archived 2013-11-09 at the Wayback Machine 650 pages ISBN 1-57958-204-4 ISBN 978-1579582043 Page 155
- Finley, The history of Greece under Othman and Venetian Domination, 1856 pp. 330-334
- Dakin, Douglas The Greek Struggle for Independence, 1821–1833, University of California Press, (1973) pp. 26–27
- "Greek Independence Day". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
The Greek revolt was precipitated on March 25, 1821, when Bishop Germanos of Patras raised the flag of revolution over the Monastery of Agia Lavra in the Peloponnese. The cry "Freedom or Death" became the motto of the revolution. The Greeks experienced early successes on the battlefield, including the capture of Athens in June 1822, but infighting ensued.
- McManners, John (2001). The Oxford illustrated history of Christianity. Oxford University Press. pp. 521–524. ISBN 0-19-285439-9.
The Greek uprising and the church. Bishop Germanos of old Patras blesses the Greek banner at the outset of the national revolt against the Ottomans on 25 March 1821. The solemnity of the scene was enhanced two decades later in this painting by T. Vryzakis….The fact that one of the Greek bishops, Germanos of Old Patras, had enthusiastically blessed the Greek uprising at the onset (25 March 1821) and had thereby helped to unleash a holy war, was not to gain the church a satisfactory, let alone a dominant, role in the new order of things.
- Prousis, Theophilus C., "Smyrna in 1821: A Russian View" (1992). History Faculty Publications. 16, pp. 145, 146
- Jelavich, p. 217.
Sources
- Finkel, Caroline. Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1923. New York: Basic Books, 2005. ISBN 978-0-465-02396-7.
- Hobsbawm, Eric John. The Age of Revolution. New American Library, 1962. ISBN 0-451-62720-2.
- Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans, 18th and 19th Centuries. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983. ISBN 0-521-27458-3.
- Paroulakis, Peter H. The Greek War of Independence. Hellenic International Press, 1984.
- Shaw, Stanford. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Volume I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
- Vacalopoulos, Apostolis. The Greek Nation, 1453–1669. Rutgers University Press, 1976.
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